In an exclusive interview with You! Professor Baig talks about her work…
woman@work
Professor Lubna Ansari Baig is the Founding Dean, APPNA Institute of Public Health at Jinnah Sindh Medical University (AIPH-JSMU) and is presently its chairperson. Professor Baig started her career with UNICEF as a field Medical Officer and then got Master of Public Health Degree from University of Oklahoma, USA. On her return to Pakistan, she joined AKU as Instructor. From 1993 to 1999, she worked at Baqai Medical College and Jinnah Medical and Dental College. In 1998, she was requested by the Federal Ministry of Health to join as Consultant for the Community Oriented Medical Education (COME) Project of World Health Organization (WHO). This was the first project in Pakistan for making innovative changes in COME curriculum for four medical colleges in the public sector.
She is the first PhD in Medical Education in Pakistan. Professor Baig has written 88 papers in peer reviewed international journals, three books, more than 12 papers in local journals and multiple chapters in books. She also developed the Master of Public Health programme in Mwanza, Tanzania in collaboration with the University of Calgary, Canada. Currently she is serving on research and academic boards and governing bodies of institutions including Karachi Medical & Dental College, The Kidney Center, and Aga Khan University in Karachi. In an exclusive interview with You! Professor Baig talks about her work…
You! Did you face any discrimination in your career as a woman?
Professor Lubna Ansari Baig: Subtle discrimination has always been there. It is my experience too that women have to be 10 times smarter than men to prove their point in their professional fields. Any time I have been assertive I have been labelled as abrasive. This situation is not exclusive to Pakistan. I have also experienced this gender bias in developed countries where I have worked.
You! When did you discover your calling as a public health expert?
PLAB: At the first job that I got at UNICEF, my main reason for joining was that they allowed me to bring my one-year-old son with me. It was a compassionate and enabling environment that allowed me to continue in my profession and I could still continue to be a mother to my first born. Secondly, after working in Baldia Town area, I realised that there were several such issues in the health of populations which were not addressed in my MBBS curriculum. I enjoyed working with people and saw results from low cost interventions like vaccination, weaning for newborns, antenatal care, etc. From there on, I fell in love with public health and the rest is history.
You! What is the recipe for success for a career woman in Pakistan?
PLAB: Patience and perseverance is the key to success. We can get to the target but it takes longer if we want to have both the family life and a career which is not an issue with men. When my batchmates, mostly men, were making a mark in the world I was progressing slowly as I wanted to have children and nurture them as well. This did not discourage me or made me sad as each negative influence made me work harder. Now, I can stand next to my batchmates and discuss my achievements which are no less than what they have.
You! What extra skills would you advise women to acquire for leading a happy and wholesome life?
PLAB: The work has to start from home and once you have convinced your family that you need to follow your dreams then the rest is not as difficult. Learning psychology and strengthening communication skills may help in working at home and at work as well. Slow and steady work will get you to your dream career so if you are late, don’t get depressed and don’t give up.
You! What factors enabled you to balance home and work?
PLAB: Patience and belief in myself that I will get there but a little late and that is fine. I mostly negotiated my jobs to ensure that my children would be with me and for most projects which required travel; I either refused or took my children along. I have always given priority to my family even when it meant refusing a major jump in the career. My parents, husband and mother-in-law were the biggest support in advancing my career as they always came to help when I had to travel or study for my exams.
You! What would you describe as your biggest achievement in your career?
PLAB: Realising that it is not the position that matters but the impact that I am having in communities and colleagues. Developing Public Health and Medical Education programmes not only in Pakistan but out of Pakistan has been the highlight of my career academically. For my community work, I take a lot of pride in the work done with media campaigns for giving way to ambulances and now the ‘Bharosa Karein’ campaign for building trust and respect for healthcare providers.
You! What has been the role of men in your success?
PLAB: Support from my husband has been the key factor as he trusted and believed in me. The men that were competitors’ and were trying to put me down provided the biggest boost to my morale as I worked harder. The look on their faces on my success was priceless. There have also been other male colleagues in my life that have trusted me and supported me in my struggle for better academic environment.
You! What is the ‘Healthcare in Danger’ project?
PLAB: This is an international movement for protecting healthcare workers. The work was started by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to protect healthcare workers in war affected areas. In 2014 AIPH-JSMU was approached to start similar work in Karachi as it is affected by violence against healthcare providers. We started working in non war zones to protect healthcare workers and developed evidence based interventions for protecting healthcare staff. The Karachi Project, as it is known internationally, is the prized project of ICRC and the interventions developed at AIPH-JSMU are now being replicated after contextualization internationally. HCID project is managed by AIPH-JSMU through contract staff supported by ICRC.
You! How does violence against healthcare staff affect the health professionals?
PLAB: The common belief was that doctors are targeted for killing; we found out that even more physical and verbal violence is inflicted upon all cadres of healthcare. Through our research, we found out that most of the effects are psychological as the healthcare workers felt hopeless, wanted to avoid talking about the incident, and had repeated disturbing memories about the incident. The physical violence also leads to major injuries and we know how many of our healthcare facilities have been damaged due to undue violence by predator.
You! What are some common myths about healthcare staff that lead people to violence against them?
PLAB: The top five reasons for violence reported are: failure to meet the expectations of patients and persons accompanying them, communication failure, human error, unexpected outcome and substandard care. The lack of communication skills and lack of facilities at the public sector healthcare facilities is one of the major reasons. Other factors include lack of knowledge of triage and undue interference by connected people. The myth in the community is that healthcare staff is negligent and people with connections are seen earlier. The myths about healthcare staff have to be debunked. The healthcare staff has to get trained in de-escalating and managing violence to provide better quality of care.
You! What are the non-violent ways for people to record their grievances effectively?
PLAB: The grievances should be reported to the management. Most institutions in the private sector have such systems and some public sector hospitals also have complaint boxes so they should be used. The use of social media has now become prevalent and some have used it positively with appropriate results. If the complaint boxes and talking to management does not work, then people should resort to electronic media inclusive of social media. Having said that this should be recognised at all levels and appropriate policies should be developed and enacted to protect healthcare workers.
